


Nebula's Mix Vol. 1

by HeartsInJeopardy



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Music, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23121256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartsInJeopardy/pseuds/HeartsInJeopardy
Summary: “Quill had a taste for ancient Earth music.”Tony scoffed and raised an eyebrow at Nebula. “I’ll have you knowI’man ancient earthling and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Nebula's Mix Vol. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short story about Nebula, friendship and music. I hope you like it!

“I’ve never said this before,” Tony sighed, “but I’m out of ideas.”

From his seat on the floor beside a control panel, Tony turned his head to scan the _Benatar_ ’s empty central hub.

“Super Grover,” he called, “do you copy?”

Nebula’s bald blue head poked through the doorway to the ship’s engine room. Her dark eyes narrowed warily. “Am _I_ Super Grover?” she asked.

“No,” he answered. “I was talking to myself. But we’d love your input.”

Nebula joined him in the hub, pulling a heavy laser welding glove off her right hand. “The changes you suggested gave us a few hours of extra thrust-”

“The scientific term is oomph,” Tony cut in.

“-but now the engine is cold.”

He rubbed a hand across his brow and exhaled slowly. “I was afraid you’d say that. I guess now we cross our fingers – metal or otherwise - and hope that a Good Samaritan with two free seats swings by Titan on their weekly grocery run.”

Tony pushed himself off the floor with a weary groan. He swayed on his feet and grabbed the ship’s meeting table suddenly, clutching his stomach. Nebula appeared at his side in an instant and took hold of his arm.

She looked Tony up and down. “Is the wound still giving you trouble?” He glanced at her with a wry smile.

“Don’t tell me you’re starting to go soft after just a few weeks trapped on a spaceship with me.”

He tried to shrug out of Nebula’s grip but she held firm. She steered Tony toward the ship’s cockpit by the elbow and marched him back to its seats.

“Keeping you alive is my best chance to stay alive,” she told him. “And to kill my father.”

Tony settled into a chair under the _Benatar’_ s curving windshield and Nebula finally let him go. “Now that,” he said, “sounds more like the cyborg I know.”

It wasn’t a lie, Nebula told herself. Tracking down Thanos was still at the forefront of her mind, the one thought driving her to keep going despite how hopeless everything seemed.

Still, as she watched Tony collect himself with slow, deep breaths, something did stir inside her. She might have called it pity, once, but since reconciling with Gamora – and then losing her - Nebula had found herself second-guessing the guarded instincts she had learned in childhood more and more.

The curious thing was Nebula knew she would share the same fate as Tony if they couldn’t get the ship moving again. He was already withering before her eyes, while it would take much longer for her cyborg body to fade away. But she could feel herself growing weaker by the day, just like him.

She had spent all her life focused on her own survival and success, to the detriment of everything and everyone else. But now, when death and failure felt closer than ever, she couldn’t stop fretting over the strange earthling slumped in a chair beside her.

Moving stiffly, Tony put his legs up on the flight controls suspended before his seat and leaned back. The controls swayed on their moving arm and something fell to the metal floor below with a clang. Tony craned his neck, but Nebula stooped to pick it up before he could.

“Some of Quill’s junk,” she explained.

Tony shook his head and Nebula guessed the mention of Peter had stung him. But when he peered at the device in Nebula’s hand his lips curled up in a smile.

“A Zune?” he said with a surprised chuckle. “Are they still making those out here?”

Nebula cocked her head and gave Tony a puzzled look. She handed over the MP3 player and watched him rub his thumb over its click wheel.

“I guess the Weekly Top 40 doesn’t reach this part of the galaxy,” he observed.

Nebula nodded. “Quill had a taste for ancient Earth music.” Tony scoffed and raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’ll have you know _I’m_ an ancient earthling and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

He looked at the Zune’s screen for a long moment then put one earbud in.

“There’s just enough charge for a song or two,” he told Nebula. “I’ve got a good one lined up if you wanna split it.”

He dangled the other earbud in front of Nebula and watched her intently. She kept her face stoic while her dark eyes flitted between Tony’s face and his hand. At last, she put the earbud in and shuffled closer to his seat, kneeling down beside it.

As Tony pressed play, a simple piano melody, a steady drumbeat and slow notes from a trumpet filled their earbuds. Nebula glanced at Tony and saw him resting his head against the seat, gazing out the windshield at the field of stars before them.

A woman’s voice sang out the lyrics before a trio of men joined in.

_L.A. Proved too much for the man_

_So he's leavin' the life he's come to know_

_He said he's goin' back to find_

_What's left of his world_

_The world he left behind_

_Not so long ago_

***

Peter shut off the _Benatar_ ’s stereo system with an annoyed groan. “You call that music?” he asked incredulously.

Thor shook his head and lowered his sunglasses, shooting Peter a look with his bright, dual-colored eyes.

“I’m sorry you’re not the team’s only authority on Earth music anymore,” he scoffed. “But these days lo-fi hip hop beats are very popular.”

“I am Groot.”

“Well who asked you?” Peter replied, shooting a look at the teenaged tree behind him. “As a matter of fact, I’m taking a show of hands: Who never wants to hear that again?”

Peter raised a hand and swiveled his cockpit seat to check his teammates. Thor glared while the others glanced between them with bored looks on their faces.

“Well that settles it!” Peter said triumphantly. “From now on the _captain_ picks the music.”

“That’s funny,” Rocket grumbled from the seat next to him. “I never get to pick.” 

Peter ignored Rocket while quickly tapping his control panel. The speakers switched back on, filling the ship with loud chanting.

_Ooga-chaka ooga ooga. Ooga-chaka ooga ooga._

“Blue Swede!” Peter shouted. He grooved in his seat while Rocket nodded his fuzzy head to the beat.

Leaning in the cockpit’s door with her arms folded, Nebula surveyed her team members. After sharing the ship with just Rocket for so long, adjusting to the noise and chaos of the other Guardians was taking her some time. 

Mantis’ curiosity quickly became irritating, and so did Drax’s brashness. Groot had all the tiresome habits of a teenager and Thor shared most of them. And Peter… well, he was _Peter_.

Still, there was no denying she had missed them through the years, in spite of how they got on her nerves. And although he tried to hide the pain, Rocket had been sullen and withdrawn without the others.

She watched Rocket’s head bob up and down to Quill’s song and felt something like relief, idly tapping her foot to the beat.

Peter’s chair whirled around and he grinned widely. “Glad someone appreciates…” He trailed off as Nebula stopped the tapping abruptly.

Peter scanned the faces of Groot and Mantis behind him then turned to check Drax and Thor in the cockpit’s front seats. Each stared back at him with a bemused expression.

“Oh I get it,” Peter laughed. “Someone’s _too_ _cool_ to be caught having fun, huh?”

“It was Nebula,” Mantis said loudly. She pointed a finger at Nebula, who hunched her shoulders reflexively.

Drax guffawed from his seat below Peter, spilling a bag of crunchy snacks on the floor. “Oh Mantis, you are getting better at ‘jokes’ every day. Nebula despises music, like me.” He nodded approvingly. “It’s one of her best qualities.”

“I am Groot.”

“It was her!” Mantis insisted. “I saw-”

Mantis looked over her shoulder at Nebula and trailed off abruptly. Peter didn’t catch the look Nebula had flashed, but noticed how Mantis’ antennae drooped fearfully. He furrowed his brow and turned to his co-pilot, but Rocket wouldn’t take his eyes off the flight controls.

“I’m sworn to secrecy,” he said flatly. “On pain of having my arms ripped off or, and I quote, ‘Something worse.’”

Peter stammered and turned to Nebula with his eyes wide. She met his gaze for an instant, with what he thought was a look of fear, then turned away and scowled at the bulkhead next to her.

“W-well,” Peter finally managed to spit out. “That’s unexpected but… pretty cool. I guess we finally had a good influence on someone for once.”

“All of you,” Nebula said coldly, “are morons.”

She turned on her heel and strode through the ship’s hub. Peter heard the distant sound of her cabin doors sliding shut and shared anxious looks with his teammates.

When his eyes drifted back to Thor, he broke into a snide smirk.

“Any way you slice it that’s two votes for _good_ music,” he bragged.

“I am Groot!”

Peter flapped a hand through the air and turned back to his controls. “Who cares, you’re not old enough to vote anyway.”

***

Lying on the bunk in her sparsely decorated cabin, Nebula heard footsteps approaching the door. She recognized them as Peter’s and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Go away,” she said bluntly. She heard Peter’s boots shuffling on the other side of the door.

“Uh, it’s me,” he called.

“I know it’s you,” Nebula grumbled. “That’s why I told you to go away.”

“Listen,” he said loudly, “I get that you want some time to yourself, I just wanted to say-”

Nebula rolled off her bunk, crossed the room at a quick stride and opened its sliding doors. Peter took a surprised step back then flashed an anxious smile.

“If you’re not going to _go_ ,” she told him, “then at least come in so the rest of the ship doesn’t hear you.”

“Right. My bad.”

Nebula turned back inside and Peter followed, shutting the doors. She sat on her bunk and looked at him expectantly, while he glanced around at the cabin’s bare walls.

“You know you could put up, like, posters,” he suggested. “Or maybe a… Hmm…” his brow creased as he considered Nebula’s stony expression. “Paintings? Maybe?”

Nebula enunciated each word: “What. Do. You. Want?”

“Okay, here’s the thing.” Peter looked down at the floor and rubbed a hand through his light brown hair. “I realize that you probably didn’t like being singled out in front of everyone. Sorry about that.”

Nebula pursed her lips and sat back, folding her arms. “I wouldn’t get upset over something so _trivial.”_

Peter studied her grave expression and tried to keep from smiling. “You’re still really bad at lying,” he snickered. “Maybe ask Rocket for pointers or something. You’d think with all that supervillainy-”

“Apology accepted,” Nebula interrupted. She stood up and narrowed her eyes at Peter, giving him a look that had made plenty of her enemies turn and run throughout the years.

To his credit, Peter took a gulping swallow but stood his ground.

“What I meant to say is, I talked to Rocket about…” He gestured vaguely. “The in-between time. Now, don’t go ripping his arms off – or something worse – but he told me that you kinda borrowed my Zune while I was gone.”

Nebula cocked her head. “It’s not like you were using it.” Peter scoffed.

“I’m not accusing you of anything.” He put on a smile and pulled the Zune wrapped in earbud cords from his pocket. “I just thought you might like to borrow it again sometime.”

Peter held the Zune out and Nebula regarded it warily. He waggled the MP3 player but she kept her arms folded.

“Look, it’s no trouble. You can even make playlists that just have _your_ favorite songs on them. See, I made you one.”

Peter scrolled his thumb over the click wheel and held the Zune out to Nebula. She squinted at the screen.

“Mebula’s mix?” she asked.

Peter checked the screen and frowned. “That was supposed to say ‘Nebula’. The controls are a little finicky.”

Peter looked up and saw Nebula staring back with her stoic expression. He set the Zune down on her empty desk.

“Anyways,” he said with a shrug. “I thought I would offer. You can bring it back if you don’t want it.”

He turned and reached for the doors’ control panel. Nebula gave an exasperated sigh that made him look over his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

Peter’s eyes fluttered in surprise before he smiled and mumbled, “No problem.” He reached for the door again.

“Quill,” Nebula said quickly, making him stop and turn back. “Does the music ever bring back…” Nebula stared down at the floor and searched for the right word. “Painful… feelings? Memories?”

Peter smirked and Nebula felt uneasy, expecting an insult or a reproach. Instead, he shrugged and nodded. “Music’s great at two things: making you feel really good, and making you feel really bad.”

He picked up the Zune and scrolled through it before stepping closer to show Nebula the playlist on screen.

“Jazz?” she read.

“It’s a type of Earth music. Rocket and I both can’t stand it, but there’s no actual jazz on the playlist.”

As he scrolled through the songs, Nebula noted titles she recognized from her time with the Zune: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Father and Son”, and “Fooled Around And Fell in Love”.

“Rocket would never pick ‘Jazz’ so it’s my way of keeping these songs off the ship’s stereo,” he said with a laugh. “That way I don’t get all teary eyed in front of the others. Some remind me of my mom, or Yondu, or Earth…” He cleared his throat. “Or Gamora.”

Peter scrolled through the playlist in silence. Nebula snuck a sidelong glance at him and saw his eyes were glistening.

After a long pause, Peter sniffed and shook his head. “But I still listen to ‘em all. Just not when anybody’s around.”

He held out the Zune and this time Nebula took it, tracing her metal thumb over its click wheel.

“You take the good with the bad,” Peter said matter-of-factly, “because even the memories that hurt are important. That’s just part of being human.”

A panicked look crossed Peter’s face and his eyes flicked up to meet Nebula’s gaze.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he blurted out.

Nebula raised a hand to quiet him. “I understand.”

She stared into the middle distance, working her jaw as she gathered her thoughts. “I made friends while the rest of you were gone. We lost some of them,” she told him. “I miss them, and Gamora too.”

Peter nodded solemnly.

“But if we find her again…” Nebula stammered then corrected herself. “ _When_ we find Gamora again, we’ll both have more songs to share with her.”

Peter grinned and nodded, resting his hand on Nebula’s shoulder. “How does it feel to look on the bright side for once?” he asked.

She smiled coyly. “Foolish. Maybe the rest of you are rubbing off on me.” Peter laughed and Nebula chuckled quietly.

She looked down at the Zune for a long moment, working the controls with her thumb.

“I’ve got the first song for my playlist,” she told Peter, dangling an earbud from her hand. “Want to split it?”

Peter took the earbud without hesitation, craning his head to read the Zune’s screen. “That one’s a classic,” he said approvingly.

Nebula put her own earbud in and hit play. “One of my friends introduced it to me.”

_L.A. Proved too much for the man_

_So he's leavin' the life he's come to know_

_He said he's goin' back to find_

_What's left of his world_

_The world he left behind_

_Not so long ago_

**Author's Note:**

> I love feedback, so if you made it this far I’d love to hear what you thought.


End file.
